Out of my comfort zone!

I was on Lake Erie last week to close on Serenity as well as get her in the water. Everything was kind of rushed because the owner, Eric is leaving for a couple of months on a trip. So after Shirl  and I spent a great holiday weekend with my family...my whole family since Justin, Libby, and Ava drove from Virginia, and Sara, Tommy, Ella, Jack, and Cash arrived from Louisville, I left Wednesday morning to drive to Lake Erie, and arrived in a little over four hours. I closed on the boat on Thursday, and spent time with Eric going over Serenity's systems. Serenity was not put in the water last season, so she has been in indoor storage for approximately twenty months. 

This is Serenity being taken to the lift on the Black River. This was an interesting process. A hydraulic trailer picks up the stand as well as the boat for transport.

The boat is then carefully backed into the lift. 

Two slings are then applied and she is lifted off the stand.

Serenity being lowered into the Black River.

A crane is then used to step the mast. This boat has a keel stepped mast so the mast goes through the deck and sets in a bracket at the keel.

The standing rigging then was loosely attached.

Lines everywhere...where do they go? Just looking at the standing rigging, (cables that support the mast), as well as the running rigging, (lines that enable you to work with the sails), was a little intimidating. Eric told me he would come by Monday and show me how to tune the standing rigging and get the sails on, as well as ride down the Black River with me to the Marina where I have rented a temporary slip. Having spent two nights in a hotel while cleaning and waxing the boat, I decided to sleep on the boat Friday night.(less expensive) It was a windy, chilly night. Since the rigging was loose it made a lot of noise with each wind gust which made it impossible to sleep much at all...lines slapping the mast and cables/shackles rattling in the chain plates. Talk about solitude... locked in by a security gate in the woods on the Black River with no one else around...I read a little, and thought about my comfort zone. This is all basically new to me. While I am familiar with many boat systems, sailing and sailboats are different. I will admit that there were a brief few seconds when I asked myself what the hell am I doing? I am not sure where any of these ropes go, how to adjust these cables, and how can a 35 horse power engine control a boat this heavy?

I left Serenity tied to the dock on Saturday morning to drive to Michigan to celebrate Shirl's birthday with her family. After a great dinner we spent the night at her daughter's home, and Sunday morning I drove back to the Black River so that I would be there on Monday to meet with Eric and hopefully learn a lot about rigging and putting on sails. A note to those of you like me who have taken sailing lessons...the sails are already on the boat, attached and ready to use, and the rigging is tuned to properly support the mast. Buying a boat in storage with the mast down means you just don't board the boat and go sailing.

I spent Sunday night on Serenity on the Black River. This was the view from the cock pit of the boat just after dark. It was a beautiful evening although windy and chilly.

I received a text message from my daughter Sara, with the above picture attached. Her message stated that she saw this and thought of my planned adventure. What great timing! I am definitely working my way in that direction. Perhaps I have been in my comfort zone too long.

 Thank you Sara.